Here's a poem today: "Your Catfish Friend" by Richard Brautigan

[CTyankee]

Your Catfish Friend

If I were to live my life
in catfish forms
in scaffolds of skin and whiskers
at the bottom of a pond
and you were to come by
one evening
when the moon was shining
down into my dark home
and stand there at the edge
of my affection
and think, "It's beautiful
here by this pond.I wish
somebody loved me,"
I'd love you and be your catfish
friend and drive such lonely
thoughts from your mind
and suddenly you would be
at peace,
and ask yourself, "I wonder
if there are any catfish
in this pond?It seems like
a perfect place for them."

[Bayard]

1. Wonderful!

Thanks for posting.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

2. I love catfish.

When I am around a pond or lake I look for them. Saw a huge white catfish in lake Cuyahoga took my breath away. He was around a yard long. Felt very honored to see him. He hung around awhile too. I watched him laying belly down on the pier.
The water was so clear I could see the rocks perfectly on the bottom..

[CTyankee]

3. I grew up thinking of catfish as being what poor people ate. Sounds more interesting now...

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. I learned catfish was a special dinner

My mom would roll it in corn meal with old bay and pepper. And fry it in a cast iron skillet. We'd eat it with corn on the cob and hush puppies,oh gawd that was delicious.

[CTyankee]

6. I always had my cast iron skillet until I got sick of lugging it around. It was the only way a real

Southerner would dare cook fried chicken. Cream gravy would also be made in that skillet.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

7. I am never parting with my skillet

It was my great grandmas ,my grandmas
Then my mom used it,now I have it and the cure in it is just amazing.
You are 100%right about the fried chicken thing.
Also there had to be a pressure cooker and fat back for proper greens. I'd see grandma every summer and when we pulled in her driveway I could smell her greens. After driving 500 miles I was so freaking hungry. Those greens were heaven on a fork .

[CTyankee]

8. Oh yes, collard greens with fat back!

How often do you season your skillet?

[Brother Buzz]

4. "No Trespassing. 4/17 of a Haiku."

― Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America